Big Data - not surprisingly - features in Deloitte's just-released annual "Tech Trends" report identifying the 10 trends most likely to have an impact for CIOs in the coming year and beyond.

"It's an uncommon time to have so many emerging forces – all rapidly evolving, technology-centric and each already impacting business so strongly," said Mark White, principal and chief technology officer, Deloitte Consulting LLP, as the report was announced.

He continued:

"The convergence of five forces offers a new set of tools, opening the door to a new set of rules for operations, performance and competition. Our report outlines the opportunity for IT to truly help elevate business performance."

The five emerging technology forces he was referring to are analytics, mobility, social, cloud and cyber security. Between them, said White, they provide the opportunity for businesses to accelerate performance in 2012.

Deloitte's 3rd annual Tech Trends report Elevate IT for Digital Business, identifies the top 10 technology trends that will have the most potential to impact businesses over the next 18-24 months, grouping the trends into two categories: Disruptors and Enablers, as follows:

Disruptors:

Social Business

Gamification

Enterprise Mobility Unleashed

User Empowerment

Hyper-hybrid Cloud

– These, the report notes, are all technologies that can create sustainable positive disruption in IT capabilities, business operations and sometimes even business models.

Enablers:

Big Data Goes to Work

Geospatial Visualization

Digital Identities

Measured Innovation

Outside-in Architecture

– These are technologies in which many CIOs have already invested time and effort, but which may warrant another look this year because of new developments.

"We encourage organizations to step up – now – and take advantage of these digital forces. No business should get caught unaware or unprepared," declared Bill Briggs, Deloitte's director and deputy CTO.

Each trend is presented with at least two examples of adoption to show the trend at work. For Big Data here's how the Deloitte report exemplifies its benefits:

Big Data Goes to Work – To maintain contact with customers, a car rental company received thousands of pieces of feedback daily through web surveys, e-mail commentary, text messages and feedback cards across its 8,000 locations. Geographic dispersion of the business and the unstructured form of the content, however, made it difficult. Big data changed all of that. Previously unwieldy data volumes were able to be processed centrally – with consistent rules, metrics and analysis. Insights on potential service improvements, addressing staffing issues at specific sites during specific times, were uncovered and resulted in measurable gains in customer satisfaction.

Jeremy Geelan is Chairman & CEO of the 21st Century Internet Group, Inc. and an Executive Academy Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Formerly he was President & COO at Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences across six continents. You can follow him on twitter: @jg21.

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